Holy Trinity Reflected
Hull Civic Society
Aims, partners, priorities
From its inception in 1964, the Society has aimed to represent those who wish to make suggestions for improving the environment of our city – to make Hull a better place to live, work, play and invest.
Our early work was aimed at stopping the destruction of our old heritage buildings, particularly in the Old Town – today we are focussed on getting the best results for Hull’s built environment in these years of unprecedented regeneration of the city.
Membership is over three hundred & we communicate with members primarily via our much appreciated News Letter, published three times per year. In the winter season we have a series of public meetings with guest speakers on all aspects of current new build development projects, restoration projects, city plans and Hull’s cultural and architectural heritage. In the summer there are a number of guided walks round the city to places of historic interest.
We organise the annual Open House weekend which allows members of the public to see inside many of our historic buildings not normally open to the public – for the past three years we have done this in conjunction with, and financial support of, English Heritage.
We participate strongly in the emerging Local Area Development Framework in conjunction with the City Council. We helped set up the Old Town Conservation Area Advisory Panel and one of our members is currently the Chairman.
A major part of our work is to study planning applications for new-build and restoration projects, to seek to achieve the best possible standards of architecture, consistent with economic realities.
Recent plans we have worked on include The Boom, Andersons Wharf, the Fruit Market redevelopment plans, City Centre Area Action Plan and the Core Strategy. We make representations in writing to the Planners and developers, attend Planning Committee meetings and get involved with a number of Council led initiatives – for example, last year we made a major presentation to the Hull Transportation Commission and we are currently helping to put together a seminar on renewable energy in the context of the City’s energy needs and obligations.
As a charitable organisation of volunteers, we have no statutory or financial powers, and therefore have to rely entirely on the powers of persuasion and diplomacy, and hopefully the good sense of our views, to work with those with the authority and budgets to get things done.
We put a lot of effort into promoting public awareness of the built environment of the city and this is particularly achieved by our Good Mark scheme – recent awards include the Hooper Building, the restoration of the Pilots Offices on the Pier and the new Riverside office building at Priory Park.
We recognise that the regeneration of Hull’s economy is vital to the successful and high quality regeneration of the fabric of the city and to this end, we seek to support the work of the City Council, Hull Forward, Gateway, City Venture and developers – but all the time to trying to keep the quality of our city’s environment at the forefront of people’s thinking.
The need also to regenerate the pride of residents in their city is prominent in our objectives and we seek to counteract negative stereotypes which are regularly presented in the press, national statistics and on TV.
We think that it is vital that the rich historical background and the ambitious plans for the regeneration and restoration of the city, should be continuously promoted to residents of the city and surrounding villages , just as much as to visitors – many local people still do not give recognition to what a wonderful city we live in!
We believe that the quality of the city’s “public realm” – planting, trees, pavements and street furniture are vital to achieving a good environment – we could learn a lot from continental cities – and we would claim that a good visual environment encourages more respect for the city, for other residents, promotes walking and contributes strongly to the tourist economy.
At this time in the historical development of our city, which is currently on an unprecedented scale, the work of Hull Civic Society is needed to support the emergence of a city worthy of its place in history, its cultural heritage and its current success in industry and commerce.
John Netherwood
Chairman – Hull Civic Society